


I'll Always Run Back To You

by of_one_soul



Category: Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-28
Updated: 2019-10-25
Packaged: 2020-10-30 00:28:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 15,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20805500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/of_one_soul/pseuds/of_one_soul
Summary: A tale of Anne and Gilbert as they move past their years of pushing each other away and denying their feelings and towards many more years of running towards each other with honest love.This story takes place after the events of Season 2, so there are no spoilers for Season 3. (However, I cannot guarantee a lack of spoilers in the comments.)





	1. Running

**Author's Note:**

> The characters, their background stories, and the general setting of this tale are creations of L.M. Montgomery, more recently retold by Moira Walley-Beckett. They hold all of the credit for this beautiful souls. 
> 
> This is my re-imagining of some of the "inbetween" for Anne Shirley-Cuthbert and Gilbert Blythe.

Anne Shirley-Cuthbert was always running. In her darker moments, she often found herself running away. Five years ago at the church picnic, her first experience meeting much of the Avonlea community, she ran away from the disapproving stares and hurtful words that emanated from what seemed to be every set of eyes and every mouth. She had bolted away from school, distancing herself from the hushed, yet audible snickers of her classmates as they relished in the consequences she faced for hitting Gilbert Blythe over the head with her slate when he had the audacity to call her “Carrots”. She ran yet again when faced with the grave thought that Marilla and Matthew might need to relinquish her back to the orphanage when they almost lost their farm all those years ago.

Anne ran in moments spurred by passion and little forethought. Her legs drove her into the burning Gillis home to slow the fire, they carried her the Blythe’s farm when faced with the iminent knowledge that she would forever regret not making amends for the words she spoke to Gilbert after his father’s death, and they propelled her onto the freight during her mission to save Ms. Stacy.

Anne also ran in lighter moments. She ran almost daily to meet her sweet friend Diana so they could share their walk to school linked at the elbows, hearts, and spirits. Her legs tended to lead her to places of beauty on quiet afternoons where she would spend her hours lost among the trees and streams she dearly loved. And at the end of every day she ran up the stairs to the front porch of Green Gables, bursting through the door with all of the energy alight in her beautiful soul. Even though Anne had lived in Green Gables for nearly five years now, this sudden burst of energy into the warmth of the Cuthberts kitchen always seemed to give Marilla a momentary fright.

“Anne, would you slow down for once in you life?” Marilla exclaimed as Anne burst through the door, letting in a cold draft of air on this frigid yet sunny winter day.

“Oh Marilla, the Sun has just given me so much energy today. How can I possibly slow down when it’s rays have bathed me all afternoon in their glorious splendor.”

With a slight smile, Marilla replied, “Well at least shut the door behind you, dear girl. You may have bathed in the Sun all afternoon, but right now I feel like the outdoors is personally treating me to an icy soak in the wash tub!”

Anne complied with an energized giggle, not deterred at all by Marilla’s reprimand.

“Anne, please go and wash up, and then come back down to help me with dinner. The Lacroix family and Gilbert are coming over this evening. I invited them when I was over with Mary this morning.”

This had become a very frequent occurrence, the sharing of meals between good friends, in the year since Sebastian and Mary wed.

“Is Matthew expected back soon?” Anne asked.

Matthew had gone into Carmody with Jerry for a few supplies and to check on any news from town.

“I would expect him back within an hour or so,” Marilla replied.

Anne raced up the stairs to her room, still alight with the energy she had gained from her afternoon outside. While she spend less time daydreaming in the fields and forests than she used to when she was just a young girl in the Cuthbert’s charge, Anne, now sixteen, still felt her time outdoors filled her spirit in a way that nothing else could. Especially on an unexpectedly sunny winter day like today. She always felt satisfied after little afternoons of adventure like these. Afternoons of freedom had been spaced out more and more as Anne had begun spending more and more time preparing for her Queens exams. The process of learning and the gaining of new knowledge was also quite thrilling to Anne, so she didn’t mind much.

After washing her face, Anne paused in front of her mirror. The long braid that she had worn down her back had fallen into quite a disarray. As she pulled the ribbon out of her hair and began working the tangles out with her fingers, she contemplated keeping her hair down. She liked how she looked with the waves pressed into her hair from the braids she typically wore. Her long tresses framed her face and fell over her shoulders in a way that made her feel free and uninhibited. While she still despised the red color of her hair, seeing herself in this way made her feel a little less despair than she had for many years prior. She quickly pulled her hair back into a neat braid, knowing Marilla wouldn’t have her loose hairs floating around her kitchen, and smoothed out her dress.

“Anne! What are you doing up there?” Marilla’s voice called from the kitchen.

“Sorry, Marilla! I’ll be right there!” Anne replied as she made a few more small adjustments to her hair before running back downstairs.

Marilla smiled to herself as she cut into the potatoes that she was preparing for dinner. She had noticed something in the past few months that was becoming more and more clear each day. Entirely unbeknownst to Anne, the adventurous young woman had been spending a few extra minutes in front of the mirror each time she knew she would be seeing Gilbert Blythe.


	2. Warmth

An energized buzz filled the air in the half-empty school house the next morning as Ms. Stacy tried her hardest to keep her students focused on the tasks she had planned for them that day. Anne tried her hardest to give Ms. Stacy her undying attention, but she too was waiting with anxious excitement for the days ahead. Just one day prior, Matthew had returned to Green Gables with news from Carmody that a large snowstorm was heading towards them from the west. The news of the impending storm that was supposed to hit the next night quickly spread through Avonlea. Ms. Stacy, as thoroughly dedicated as she was to her students, still held classes that Monday morning for those able to attend. Still, about a quarter of the girls were missing from their usual seats, and only a few boys remained as the rest were home helping their families prepare for the storm.

Anne looked out the window at the soft snowflakes that had already begun to fall outside. Without much thought to it, Anne’s mind began to wander. Dinner with Gilbert and the LaCroix family the previous night had been wonderful as always. The feeling of knowing the true meaning of “family” that soaked to Anne’s bones whenever she was in the warm presence of Matthew and Marilla was magnified tenfold whenever the six of them were around one table, Delphine nearby in her bassinet. Over the past year they had formed what, from the outside, must have seemed the strangest little family. As Anne thought back to the previous night, an image of their table appeared vividly in her daydream, nearly as clearly as it had appeared in reality. An elderly brother and sister who had never married, a young couple and their darling child who looked wonderfully different than any other faces found in Avonlea, a young man who tragically had no remaining blood relatives in this world, and her, Anne, who never knew her parents at all, all sat around one table as if they had always been kin. Anne chuckled a little to herself as she imagined how strange they must have looked together in that way, and her heart warmed as she knew just how right it felt to be together with them.

“Anne?” 

Anne jolted from her daydream as she realized Ms. Stacy was right in front of her. 

“We’re working on math now, Anne,” she said with a slight smile. 

Anne looked around her and realized that she had somehow missed the transition from their writing lesson to math and quickly apologized. As Ms. Stacy turned to continue her walk around the class, checking in with the other students as they worked, Anne glanced back to the seat where Gilbert normally sat before pulling out her slate to start the problems Ms. Stacy had written on the board. She knew exactly where he was, and that knowledge warmed her inside. The previous night it had been decided that it would be best for the group of seven to board up during the storm together. Marilla had frequently been helping Mary with Delphine anyways, and as Gilbert had added to the discussion, it would practically mean less firewood would need to be chopped to keep them warm for the duration of the storm. The conclusion was made rather quickly as they all seemed to have an unspoken understanding that they would all enjoy each other’s company during those long days cooped up, rather than have any of them worry in the back of their minds how the others were faring. The plan was for Gilbert to head over to Green Gables right after breakfast to help Matthew and Jerry prepare the house and the animals for the storm. Sebastian, Mary, and Delphine would head over to Green Gables early that afternoon after spending the morning packing up as much food, blankets, and firewood as they could into their carriage. Anne had been momentarily irked the previous night that she wasn’t included in the preparations and was expected to go to school. But Gilbert had softly reminded her that at least one of them should go and get the lessons and material from Ms. Stacy. Anne turned all of her mind power back to these lessons. It would be rather embarrassing, after all, if she remembered nothing of the day’s lessons to relay to Gilbert later. 

As Ms. Stacy wrapped up the lesson and prepared to release her students to lunch, the door of the school house clicked as someone on the outside turned the knob and immediately slammed wide open, startling the whole room as well as the person at the door. A huge gust of wind rushed into the classroom, rustling the pages of books and sending loose papers across the floor.

“Ms. Stacy, I am so sorry!” Gilbert Blythe gasped with bright red cheeks. Looking at him, one would not tell if it was the cold wind outside or a deep blush of embarrassment that lit his face aglow.

“It’s alright, Gilbert. I had not realized that the winds have picked up this much already,” replied Ms. Stacy. “Class, I think we are going to need to end our lessons here for the day so we can all get home before the storm gets any worse.” 

A nervous yet excited chatter ran through the classroom, and the students began gathering the papers that had scattered across the floorboards. Ms. Stacy approached Gilbert who stood in the back, near the door of the coat room. 

“Gilbert, is everything all right?”

“Yes, ma’am. I’m just here to bring Anne home,” Gilbert started. Realizing what that must have sounded like to his teacher, the next words spilled out of his mouth without giving him time for a breath. “Well… her home. I’m staying with the Cuthberts at Green Gables for the duration of the storm. I had noticed the storm picking up, so I… well Marilla and Matthew thought it would be best if I came now to escort her home.” The shade of Gilbert’s cheeks flushed a deeper shade of red. He glanced toward Anne who appeared too busy gathering her belongings to be aware of the clumsy words pouring out of his mouth. 

Ms. Stacy, sparing Gilbert any further embarrassment simply replied, “That was very wise of you indeed.” She turned quickly and returned to the front of the classroom. “Class, if I could ask for one more minute of your attention please,” Ms. Stacy continued with a serious look on her face. The class fell silent. “Please travel as far as you can with someone who lives near you. Move quickly, stick to your usual paths, and please don’t dawdle. A storm like this is naught to be messed with.” 

Anne finished gathering her things and headed over to the coat room where Gilbert awaited her. Contrary to what Gilbert believed, she had indeed overheard his conversation with Ms. Stacy near the back door. Over the past year, ever since Cole’s mention that Gilbert had a crush on her, Anne had noticed herself becoming increasingly attuned to his voice. She initially found this new attention frustrating as she had little desire to waste so much of her precious time distracted by a boy. Over the months, however, the more time their families spent together, the hours they spent studying with each other, and the more recent addition of their daily walks to and from school together had warmed Anne to his voice. 

Gilbert wasn’t like the other boys at school, and Anne truly recognized that now. He was more mature by every standard. He spoke to her in a way that made her feel he was interested in everything she had to say. The reactions of the other boys at school either made her feel like she was still the same strange, unwanted creature that had come to Avonlea years prior, or they made her feel like she was an object of desire for them to win over. Anne really didn’t know which was worse. Gilbert was also, tragically, an orphan, just like Anne. They both knew things and felt things from this shared experience that none of the others in their class could. Anne would go as far as calling Gilbert a kindred spirit, but never to his face of course. Nonetheless, Gilbert’s voice was now a calming and welcome presence to…

“Anne?”

Gilbert’s voice jolted Anne from her thoughts. She looked up and realized that she was standing in front of the hook where she had hung her coat and hat that morning, but the hook was empty. 

“Anne, here.”

Anne turned towards Gilbert’s voice. The sight of his grinning face caused her smile to spread in return.

“I’m sorry, Gilbert. I was just in a thought,” Anne replied. It was then that she noticed that he held her coat in his hands.

Gilbert chuckled softly, “of course you were.” He reached out his arms with the coat and Anne stepped into position so he could help her slip it on. After she fastened her coat tightly around her to prepare for the frigid winds outside, he handed over her hat which she pulled over her ears. 

Anne didn’t mind these gestures like she used to. The first time Gilbert tried to help Anne with her coat, nearly a year ago now, she had yelled at him and sprinted halfway back to Green Gables on a freezing winter’s day without any coat at all. Gilbert had eventually caught up to her and apologized, handing over her coat so she could put it on herself. That following summer, after a quiet evening spend reading on the porch of the Blythe house with her family and his, Anne finally came around and apologized to him for her intense reaction. She still thought it courageous of him that he tried again two months ago after the first cold day of the season. She found herself even more surprised at herself that she so willingly accepted his help this time and had ever since.

Anne pulled her mittens from her pockets and slipped them on. She glanced back at the classroom which was empty at this point, save for Ms. Stacy, waved a quick goodbye to her, and headed out the door behind Gilbert. Diana would usually walk part of the way with Anne and Gilbert, before heading off towards her own home, but today it was just the two of them as Mrs. Barry had elected to keep her daughters home that day. The winds had grown much more blustery now than they were in the morning, and the snow had begun to fall even harder than it fell when Gilbert had come to get her. Anne put up one mittened hand in front of her face to block the wind and snow from lashing her eyes and blinding her sight, and moments later she felt Gilbert’s warm hand wrap around the other. As they moved together toward the treeline, pushing against the wall of wind and snow, Anne was happy to see that Gilbert had ridden over on one of the Cuthbert’s horses. He guided her up onto the saddle, and with one quick motion, he brought himself up to sit in front of her. 

The roaring winds had kept them from exchanging any words since they left the school house, but before riding off, Gilbert leaned backwards and turned his head so that his lips were nearly touching Anne’s ear. “You better hold on tight, Miss Shirley-Cuthbert,” he said in a near whisper. Anne wrapped her arms snuggly around his sides and across his belly. She leaned in to the warmth of his back and for a moment she felt the sensation of him pushing his back in towards her, if only just slightly. Anne tucked her head down near his shoulder blade to block herself from the winds, and a moment later they were off, riding back toward the warmth of Green Gables. Anne felt a flush of warmth flood her cheeks. Maybe it was the temporary relief from the winds that warmed her face, or maybe it was the situation Anne found herself in with this young man that she had grown to know well this year. It was almost what she would call romantical - a gallant knight rescuing a fair maiden from a treacherous storm. Anne was just glad that Gilbert was facing ahead and would not see her cheeks in whatever state of color they might be. She allowed herself to sink further into the warmth of his back and pulled her arms a little tighter. 

At the same time, Gilbert was considering how glad he was that Anne could not see his face. Despite the lashing that his face was undergoing from the freezing winds and wet drops of snow, he had a terribly goofy grin plastered on his face. He wondered if she would sense how fast his heart was racing, both from the thrill of the ride and from the thrill of her body so close to his. In that moment, he felt her pull herself closer, and for a split second, he thought he could feel her heart rate matching his, pounding through their thick coats that separated them against his back.


	3. Counting

Gilbert had made physical contact with Anne one hundred forty-five times. While he realized that admitting out loud that he knew this number would make him sound quite off-putting to practically anyone else, he couldn’t help that his mind kept track of all of the times he felt a sudden jolt through his body when his skin came in contact with hers. Five forgiving hand shakes, two quick pats on the back, four lightning-fast hugs goodbye after dinners with their families, one hundred thirty-two “accidental” brushes between their hands as they walked together or their knees as they studied together, and one quick pull of a crimson braid added up to one hundred forty-four. Their trip back to Green Gables together in the storm was number one hundred forty-five. 

While this number itself wasn’t singularly significant to him, the thoughts that seeped through Gilbert’s brain every time they touched were. With half of his mind focused that afternoon on getting them safely to the warmth of the Cuthberts’ home, the other half of his mind couldn’t help but wander due to the closeness of Anne’s body to his. Gilbert thought about how close they had become as friends that part year and how much that meant to him. They had come such a long way since he had first pulled her braid at school. If they hadn’t grown so close, Gilbert knew that there was absolutely no way that Anne would have gotten on the horse with him that day. In her dedicated stubbornness, she would have refused his help and trudged all the way home through the blizzard on her own and would most definitely have yelled at him for trying to offer her help in the first place. But it wasn’t a year ago, it was today, and they had both grown tremendously. 

Gilbert thought about how, many times, he had wanted to increase the number of touches between them by reaching out and grabbing Anne’s hand as he walked her home almost daily now or by wrapping his arm around her as they sat side-by-side studying. He had resisted acting on these desires due to the looming fear that one touch too many would wreck the bond that had been forming between them. Gilbert prayed daily that it would become clear to him when Anne might be ready to accept these gestures and possibly be willing to step into the unknown with him of becoming more than friends. Even more fervently, he prayed that she would indeed get there some day, sharing the same feelings for him that he already had for her. The warmth of her body pressing in to his back as they rode that afternoon, surrounded by swirling winds and dancing snowflakes brought him a small glimmer of hope. 

All of these thoughts raced through Gilbert’s mind as he tried to sleep later that night. Instead of trying to suppress them, he let them take over. There was a warmth to them that seemed to spread through his body despite the chill from the growing storm. After laying on his make-shift bed on the floor of Matthew’s room for more than an hour, eyes wide open and lacking any wariness, he quietly got up, wrapped his blanket around himself, padded across the room, and slipped silently through the door. He moved quietly past Marilla’s room where Bash, Mary, and Delphine now slept and crept down the stairs. Gilbert added some wood to the fireplace and re-lit the fire that had died not many hours earlier. He sat on the couch, still wrapped in his blanket, and focused his eyes on the growing flames that flickered with colors, not entirely unlike those of Anne’s hair. In a sort of a trance, Gilbert’s mind replayed the events of the day.

He saw the hint of mischief in Anne’s smile and heard the touch of playful wickedness in her voice -“I’ll race you”- as she bolted ahead of him out of the barn and towards Green Gables that afternoon when they had finally arrived. He remembered the flashes of her fiery red hair that led him like a moth to a lamp through the fierce gray wall of snow and wind as he ran to follow her. In his palm he felt the warm ghost of her mittened hand that had reached out to grab his as he had stumbled in the snow behind her. One hundred forty-six. He shivered at the memory of the intense spark he saw in her eyes as she glanced back into his before pulling him along with her. He chuckled at the memory of the shocked look on the faces of Matthew, Marilla, Bash and Mary as they had come barrelling through the door together into the warmth of Green Gables. They had come in, bent over in such intense fits of laughter that it took a good thirty seconds before Anne remembered she should probably let go of his hand. The adults, still wide-eyed from the sudden burst of energy into the room, stood still as statues, staring at the pair who shared nearly identical sheepish expressions. 

The memories of the next half hour were just a blur to Gilbert. Their family members, finally breaking from their moments of shock, began moving like a well-oiled machine intent on warming him and Anne up. After they had shed their coats and other outer garments by the door, Anne had shot upstairs to change out of her snow-drenched dress. 

“You better go get dried off too,” Marilla had said in a motherly tone. “I’ll have some tea ready when you come back down.”

Mary had gone to check on Delphine, and Matthew was busy draping their soaked coats over chairs by the fire that blazed in the adjoining room. After Marilla had stepped into the kitchen, only Gilbert and Bash were left in the entryway. Gilbert’s cheeks flushed at the memory of the all-knowing look that Bash gave him in that moment.

“Oh, shut up, Bash” Gilbert had hissed in his dear friend’s direction. The comment would have come across as offensive if it wasn’t for the ear-to-ear grin that spread across Gilbert’s face.

“I said absolutely nothin’, Blythe,” Bash chirped back with an equally wide smile as Gilbert turned to run up the stairs.

Gilbert loved Bash dearly and trusted him completely, like a brother he always wished that he had. Just like a brother, Bash knew just how to poke Gilbert to make him ever so slightly uncomfortable. That said, Gilbert did choose Bash as the first, and thus far, the only person to finally come clean to about his feelings for Anne. That was only two months ago, though Bash had known his secret since he had first mentioned Anne on the steamer. It had only been over the past year, as he and Anne had grown as friends, that Gilbert come to realize his own feelings. He also knew Anne well enough to know that it wasn’t the right time yet to reveal his feelings to her. 

Gilbert’s mind shifted to a little later that day. He had returned downstairs, after changing into dry clothes, to find all of the people closest to him gathered in chairs and seated on the floor around the fire. They were all snuggly wrapped in blankets, sipping tea, and laughing together at a story Matthew was relaying about his childhood. The sight of them all together was enough to warm Gilbert, but he gladly accepted the blanket Mary held out to him and a cup of tea from Marilla. Realizing that the most logical place for him to sit was in an open spot on the floor nearest Anne, Gilbert felt entirely overcome with a sense of peace. However, wild the storm grew outside, Gilbert was left completely oblivious to it as he shuffled over and took his place next to Anne. The spot on the floor between Anne and the couch was big enough that he had plenty of space of his own, but at the same time, was small enough that he could get away with brushing her foot with his own in the space between them where their blankets mingled on the carpet. One hundred forty-seven. He was glad when she didn’t pull her foot back.

They had spent the afternoon together telling stories, both made-up and true. They shared a delicious dinner around the living room fire. In the evening, growing a little restless from all of the sitting, huddled under blankets. Bash suggested they dance. Everyone was already feeling so far removed from the “normal” of their lives, that they all gladly took this suggestion. Even Matthew was up on his feet, seeming 20 years younger than he seemed that morning. In fits of giggles and warm laughter, they danced for almost two hours, all taking turns dancing with each other. Gilbert laughed to himself at the images in his head of Matthew dancing with Bash, goofy grins on their faces as they held each other in the proper positions for a man and a lady. He smiled at the memory of everyone gladly joining in to learn a complicated dance that he and Bash had learned in Trinidad. 

He let his mind wander back to Anne. He felt himself growing dizzy as he pictured how beautiful she was as she had spun around the small living room floor in everyone's arms. He loved seeing her dance so gently with Delphine held close to her chest. And he had, above everything else, enjoyed the three dances they had shared together that night. One hundred forty-eight, one hundred-forty nine, one hundred fifty. She had allowed him hold her more closely than he thought she would when she had first agreed to dance with him that evening. With one arm wrapped around her back and the other carefully holding her delicate arm, he lead her across the floor. The freedom he felt to just laugh with her and be entirely himself was unlike anything he had ever experienced. Although he already knew it, he knew he wouldn’t be able to hide it from her much longer. He was in love with Anne Shirley-Cuthbert.

And that is why he couldn’t fall asleep.


	4. Fire

Anne lay wide awake in her bed, staring at the ceiling. She kept telling herself that it had to simply be due to the roaring winds of the blizzard outside or Marilla’s light snores that emanated from the other side of her bed. Having Marilla mere inches from her was in some ways comforting, a quiet protection from the devilish wind spirit that pounded at the windows, but it was different from her usual nonetheless. Marilla’s presence also served as a reminder that their home of three was a home of seven tonight. And Gilbert Blythe was in the room next to hers. 

_ Ugh.  _ Anne’s brain groaned at the realization that she had let her thoughts slip to Gilbert again. This had been happening to her with increasing frequency since Cole had mentioned that Gilbert  _ might _ have a crush on her. She was fully aware that she always added that “might” in herself. Cole had seemed pretty certain of the fact. 

Anne didn’t really have a problem with Gilbert - she was actually quite enjoying having him as a friend this past year. The small soft spot she had formed for him in her heart began to grow as their families spend more and more time together. While they had their misunderstandings, they were both quick to communicate any hurts with each other to clear the air, and while they still argued, it was often for academic reasons and with far more lightness than some of their arguments in the past. They had spent so much time studying together for their upcoming exams, that, many times, it felt like they were connected as a singular mind by the shared knowledge in their brains. Beyond their studies, Gilbert had begun asking Anne if he could walk her the rest of the way home from school, after they parted paths with Diana, not long after Sebastian’s and Mary’s wedding. Anne had resisted the idea a little at first, but quickly grew fond of their conversations and his company. No one seemed to match wits with her like Gilbert did. He had somehow weaseled his way into the select group that Anne considered kindred spirits, but she didn’t mind. 

What Anne did mind, and what led to the deep groan from her brain, were the other feelings for Gilbert that she had become more and more aware of over the year, particularly the past few months. Confiding in her closest friends, Diana had labeled it a finally-reciprocated-crush, and Cole had simply called it love. 

_ Could I really love Gilbert Blythe? _

Anne had first noticed the nervous energy that boiled within her whenever she was around him. She became acutely aware of where he was at all times when they were in the same vicinity. This distraction she found quite annoying. The nervous energy became something else entirely as she recognized that way he looked at her was only reserved for her. Cole and Diana had pointed this out time and time again, but it took months for her to believe it herself. Whenever he caught her gaze with that look of intensity in his eyes, she would lose track of whatever thought she was previously having, no matter how delightful that thought was. A whole mess of butterflies would flood her stomach, and she would need to pay particular attention to making sure her knees didn’t buckle under her weight.

Apart from these physical feelings, she also found herself noticing and appreciating new things about him almost daily. She admired his emotional maturity and the way he would boldly speak his thoughts and feelings. She admired his thirst for knowledge and his hunger for adventure. She admired that he could be tough when he needed to be, but that he was naturally quite gentle. She admired the way he treated his family as well as how he treated hers as an extension of his own. She admired that he respected her as an equal and that he supported her in whatever endeavors she set her mind to. She felt comfort in the fact that she would always be herself around him without any judgement. 

_ Oh my goodness. I love Gilbert Blythe. _

The confines of her bed and her room were far too small for the intense surge of emotion she felt spread through her body at that thought. Anne knew she needed to run. If it had been practically any other night, Anne would have bolted out of her room, down the stairs, and out the door of Green Gables. She would have run across the field in front of her house, out into the middle of the wide open space. Only there, she felt, would there exist enough space to handle the energy that flowed through her.

Anne wasn’t a stupid girl though. She was well aware of the storm raging outside of their home - the storm whose ferocity that nearly matched that of the storm raging within her soul. So instead of listening to her body’s desire to bolt, Anne quietly got up, wrapped her blanket around herself, padded across the room, and slipped silently through the door. If she went downstairs, she thought, she would at least have the whole level of the house and the quiet, deep darkness to process all that she felt. She hadn’t even bothered lighting a candle as she knew the path so well now after all of these years. 

As Anne crept down the stairs, still in the depths of the thoughts and feelings that were flooding her body, she hardly noticed the light flickering from the adjoining room that grew brighter with each step. She turned the corner, intent on sinking into the Cuthbert’s most comfortable piece of furniture, and it wasn’t until she was a few steps through the threshold of the living room that she looked up, her eyes meeting Gilbert’s. The moments of silence that followed gave Anne a chance to take in the view in front of her. There was Gilbert, the young man that she had just acknowledged to herself that she loved, sitting wrapped in a blanket in front of a burning fire. All the more, he sat in the precise place where Anne had just been imagining herself sitting alone, moments earlier. 

After traversing the scene, Anne’s eyes once again locked with Gilbert’s. She had a feeling that they hadn’t moved one bit since they first caught her eyes moments earlier. His eyes reflected the flickering flames of the fire, yet almost seemed to heat her all on their own. This look wasn’t any different from the ways he looked at her with such depth before, but with Anne’s recent confession to herself, this seemed like an entirely new experience. She didn’t want to look away. She didn’t want to run anymore. 

Anne searched for words to break the silence that stood between them.  _ What are you doing down here? Why aren’t you asleep?  _ She didn’t let these words escape from her mind into the open space that separated them though. She realized that she already confidently knew the answer. It was the same answer that she would have given if he was the one asking her the same thing. He remained there in silence as the same thought passing through their minds at the same time. 

_ I cannot sleep, because I am thinking about you. _

Eyes still fixed together, Gilbert opened up the blanket that he had been tightly wrapped in, revealing his nightshirt underneath. An almost unnoticeable shiver ran down the length of his body, a mix of the cooler air rushing towards his chest and the nervous excitement that he couldn’t control. Anne did notice the shiver, and without warning, her body responded in kind. 

Never breaking away from Gilbert’s eyes, Anne slowly padded across the floor toward the corner of the couch where he sat. The heat of his gaze felt as if it was branding his name into her soul the closer she got. Still wrapped in her blanket, she sat down in the space next to him, finally looking away from the flames in his eyes and towards the cooler flames of the fireplace. She curled her knees up towards her chest and leaned in towards his. He allowed his arm to sink down behind her shoulder and around her waist, wrapping the two of them tightly together in his blanket. With one arm pinned against Gilbert’s side, Anne allowed her other arm to wrap back across his stomach where it had been earlier that day on their journey through the storm. 

They didn’t lock eyes anymore that night, and each did not know if it was themselves or the other who fell asleep first. But there they sat, asleep at last, wrapped in each other’s arms, in front of the dying flames in the fireplace. And though not a word was spoken between them since the household had scattered to their rooms much earlier that evening, they both felt as if innumerable things had been said. Everything would be different now, but talking about it would wait until tomorrow. 


	5. Sunrise

“Gilbert. Gilbert! Gil, wake up! You need to see this.”

Gilbert’s mind slowly slipped out of its state of deep, peaceful sleep at the sound of Anne’s soft, yet commanding whispers. He opened his eyes up slowly, confused at first as to where he was. Feeling the worn padding of the Cuthbert’s couch behind his back and sensing the lingering smell of Anne’s hair that wafted towards his nose as he shifted his body upright helped jog his memory. His eyes fell on Anne as she peered out the living room window, her back towards him, wrapped tightly in a blanket. Memories of the night before came rushing back, and he couldn’t help but smile. Darkness covered the part of the room where the fire had burned mere hours before, but a faint pink light shone through the window, framing the shadow of Anne’s figure against a beautifully hued backdrop. 

Gilbert let himself gaze at her for a few moments before getting up. Her hair cascaded down her back, shimmering in the new rays of the morning sun. The blanket hugged the slender, yet strong person underneath it. She turned to face him, her eyes searing into his, wordlessly beckoning him to join her, before turning back to face the window. 

_ How can she possibly say she isn’t beautiful like the other girls? _

While he felt like he had to hide the depth of his affection from her before, he felt now that he had the permission from Anne that he had needed to finally reveal all that he had to offer her. No words had been spoken between them the night before, but Gilbert knew now that the feelings between them went both ways. He didn’t want to reveal his soul all at once, but in her acceptance of him hours earlier, she gave him a flash of hope that his dream of them having a future together would one day be real. It would all come in its due time. He had so much he wanted to learn about her too now that she was finally letting him past the barriers she had constructed around herself for years.

Gilbert slowly got up from the couch, hoisting his blanket back around his shoulders. He made his way towards the window as the pink hue of the sky beyond it deepened. As he came up behind where Anne was standing, he boldly reached out and slipped Anne’s blanket off of her shoulders before discarding it behind him on a chair. She shot a bewildered look in his direction as the cold air encompassed her body, but before she had a chance to shiver, he stepped up behind her, pressing his chest and abdomen against her back. He wrapped his arms around her middle, letting the blanket on his back fall around both of them, again encompassing them in a shared warmth. Gilbert felt Anne’s body quiver momentarily in his arms before she allowed herself to press in closer to him. Gilbert’s heart leapt - this is the first time they had been this close. Yesterday, they had been separated by thick winter coats and warm woolen blankets, but today only a nightshirt and nightdress distinguished one body from the other.

There they stood, Gilbert’s left cheek pressed against the right side of Anne’s head, both pairs of eyes gazing out at the glorious scene before them. Sometime in the recent hours, the fierce storm had temporarily paused and the thick clouds had scattered just enough to let through glowing rays of the rising sun. A gentle snowfall sprinkled the ground, already thick with an untouched, glistening white. It all seemed so still and serene. Thicker and darker clouds to the north provided a reminder that this blizzard was far from over - their shadows adding another layer of wonder to the scene before them. As they stood there together for minutes, silently watching the sun rise and watching snowflakes dance to the ground, it was as if this short break from the storm was just their own. 

As the sun finally made its way fully above the horizon, suddenly morphing the pinks of the sky into oranges and scattering more beams of light across the ground, Anne let out a small gasp of amazement. Gilbert’s heart warmed in admiration of her appreciation of things so pure and simple as a winter’s sunrise. 

“Isn’t it beautiful, Gil?” Anne whispered.

But Gilbert had already turned his gaze away from the window and back to her. He loosened his grasp on her just enough to be able to turn her to face him. Holding the blanket around them still, he leaned his forehead down to hers and peered into her wide, unguarded eyes. 

“You are beautiful, Anne.”

Anne blushed a deep red, as she pulled him tightly into a hug. They stood there for a minute, neither one willing to let the other out of their embrace. As a rooster crowed in the distance, they both realized at the same time that the others in the house would be getting up soon. 

“I should start breakfast,” Anne said, pulling away slightly to look Gilbert in the eyes.

“I’ll go out and check on the animals in the barn before the blizzard starts up again,” Gilbert replied, taking both of her hands in his as they moved back from their embrace.

Anne squeezed his hands gently before pulling away completely. They folded their blankets in silence, leaving them on the chair. As Anne left to head into the kitchen, she stopped in the doorway, turning back towards him with a soft smile on her lips. The grin that Gilbert already had on his face spread even further as his gazed at her. He kept his gaze firmly on the doorway, even after she had turned back towards the kitchen to begin the morning’s breakfast. Gilbert knew he was at the very beginning of living out a dream that he had for a while now. Every desire that he had for his future, she was tied to, and he wanted to know all of her desires, both small and big, and be an integral part of making them happen too. There was so much to think about, so much he wanted to talk to her about, so much he wanted to discover about her and reveal to her about himself, but it would have to wait. For now though, Gilbert knew he must focus on the day’s tasks that faced him. He stoked the living room fire and headed upstairs to change so that he could head out to check on the animals.

As he caught a glimpse of her buzzing about the kitchen, still in her nightdress, her blazing hair whipping about as she moved, he chuckled to himself as he realized that it would be futile to keep up his silly counting. 


	6. Trust

A welcoming beam of sunlight flooded the window of Anne’s gable room, stirring Marilla from her sleep. She glanced over to the other side of the bed where Anne had been lying during her last waking moments of the previous evening, but Anne was nowhere to be seen. Marilla surmised that Anne must have woken early with the rising sun and would likely be found downstairs starting breakfast in the kitchen. The smell of toast and coffee that wafted past her nose at that moment confirmed this notion. 

Marilla quickly arose from the bed, changed into the dress she laid out the night before, and fixed her hair in front of Anne’s mirror. While the sun added a welcomed warmth to the room, the air inside was still frigid, so Marilla threw her shawl around her shoulders. She couldn’t help but notice that the dress that Anne had laid out the previous evening was still draped over her chair. She grinned to herself and shook her head as she imagined Anne being so enamored with the brilliant sunrise that the repetitious idea of getting dressed must have slipped her mind. She wondered what indecorous state she might find Anne in down in the kitchen, considering that they had male company in the house.

Marilla hurried downstairs, passing the bedrooms holding her make-shift little family. Coming to the first floor landing, she noticed the fire already alight in the living room. Her eyes fell on two blankets, neatly folded on the chair, that hadn’t been there the night before when they had all headed upstairs for bed. One of the blankets was Anne’s spare quilt from her room. It was distinctly Anne’s - the first patchwork quilt that Anne had made a few years prior with Marilla’s help. The other blanket was a wool knit that Marilla had used to make up the cot for Gilbert the previous afternoon. Standing in a momentary confusion about how the blankets got there, Marilla’s attention soon turned to Anne’s melodic voice floating from the kitchen. Marilla moved towards the kitchen, and there she found Anne, dancing a haphazard waltz of sorts and singing merrily to herself. Anne was a sight to behold - still in her night dress, her hair fanning this way and that as she spun.

“Anne!” Marilla caught Anne’s attention with a mixture of a scold and amusement in her tone. “Why aren’t you dressed? You look like you just rolled straight out of bed, down the stairs, and into the kitchen! Whatever is going on?” 

Anne jolted from her merriment momentarily to reply, “Oh Marilla! The sun was just so brilliant this morning, it gave me such energy! And of course I didn’t want to wake you from your slumber for the colorless task of getting dressed. It’s not like we’re going anywhere today! The storm clouds are already rolling back in.”

Marilla just shook her head and laughed. “That all might be true, Anne, but remember we have guests with us this morning.”

“Oh, I know, Marilla. But it’s only Mary and Bash and...and Gilbert. And I’m sure Baby Delphine doesn’t mind one bit!”

Marilla noticed Anne’s small hesitation and considered if this would be the time to ask Anne about the presence of her’s and Gilbert’s blankets stacked neatly together on the living room chair. This idea soon passed as she was startled by Gilbert’s voice coming from behind her. 

“Good morning, Marilla! Good morning, Anne!” Gilbert said with a smile. Marilla couldn’t tell if she imagined it or not, but Gilbert’s gaze seemed to linger over Anne for a few moments more than what might be considered proper, considering Anne was still clad in her nightdress. She had noticed an increasing number of looks exchanged between the pair of them over the past months, so she reasoned with herself that it was probably reality and not just her imagination. 

“Gilbert! Close your eyes!” Marilla exclaimed. “Anne, let me take that pan. You should head upstairs and get dressed before any more of our guests see you in such a state of impropriety.”

Gilbert’s hand flew up to his face, covering his eyes, as his mouth widened into an expansive grin at Marilla's outburst. Anne’s cheeks flushed a deep shade, and Marilla hoped that Anne would percieve the twinkle in her eye as she ran past her and up the stairs. 

Marilla really didn’t mind the extra attention that Gilbert and Anne had been giving each other more and more as the weeks passed. She admired Gilbert greatly as she had admired his father years before. She trusted him intrinsically and saw in his character that he wanted nothing but the best for Anne. Realizing that she had seen him almost daily over the past few months brought a smile to her face. 

She had seen Gilbert walk Anne up to the gate of Green Gables each day after school. Many days he would join her up the path to her home and they would spend a few hours together studying on the porch or in the dining room until dinnertime. Other days, when they each had responsibilities to fulfill at their respective homes, they would linger at the gate together talking about one thing or another before heading their separate ways. Nearly every weekend their families would take turns hosting dinner that would last late into the evening, and that past spring their families had even begun traveling to church together on Sundays. The Cuthberts would pick up the LaCroix family on the way to town, and Anne and Gilbert would walk together behind their cart, both there and back. The fact that some of their more recent walks back together had taken nearly two hours when the distance would have easily been covered in a half hour’s time was rather telling to anyone paying an ounce of attention. 

Marilla had enjoyed watching the interactions between the two young adults turn from a state of awkward discomfort to a place sweet familiarity. Their hours spent together had developed quite a rapport between them that was refreshing for her to witness. Marilla saw love in Gilbert’s eyes when he looked at Anne - she had for a while. More recently she caught glimmers of admiration in Anne’s eyes for him too that seemingly ran along on the precipice of love.

Snapping out of her thoughts to the smell of slightly overcooked eggs, Marilla laughed as she saw Gilbert, still standing there with his hand over his eyes. He saw her smiling at him as he lowered his hand, revealing a pink flush that had covered his cheeks. As Marilla moved to take the eggs off of the stove, her mind returned to the two blankets sitting on the living room chair. The realization that Gilbert and Anne might have spent the night together in front of the living room fire didn’t shock her much. Had they been any other young man and woman she knew she would have needed to have a stern word with them, but she knew the blushing young man in front of her would only show the greatest respect and honor towards her Anne. Like his father, he wouldn’t step over any lines before the proper time came. Tears welled in Marilla’s eyes, almost unnoticeable, as she turned towards Gilbert. 

“I trust you, Gilbert … and I want the best for you two,” she spoke in a near whisper.

With awe at her gentle response, Gilbert’s soul soared as her words of approval sank in. With a most sincere heart, he replied, “Thank you, Marilla. Anne means more than anything to me, and I can’t wait to show her that.” To his surprise a rogue tear slipped down his cheek.

Their moment in the kitchen ended abruptly as the rest of the household came bounding down the stairs. Gilbert quickly wiped the tear and its track from his cheek, and Marilla patted her eyes with the corner of her apron. Marilla gazed out the window to see that the storm had returned and once again raged outside of their cozy abode. She turned her attention back to her dearest loves who were all crowding the kitchen, just in time to spot Gilbert reaching down to firmly take hold of Anne’s hand, only for a moment. As she caught Anne’s eye, she nodded a small, approving smile in her direction. Anne’s lips spread into a glowing smile, and her eyes shone with a new fire that Marilla had never seen there before. Her Anne, her little girl, was growing up.


	7. Honesty

Anne sat in front of her mirror later that evening after the day’s activities had died down and the whole household headed to their rooms to prepare for bed. She had already shed her day dress and donned her nightgown, and she was working on taking down her braids. She felt slightly perturbed as she gazed at the young woman in the mirror staring back at her. Anne couldn’t help but wonder how she could look like the same person that she saw in the mirror just the night before and still feel like an entirely different person at the same time. 

_ You are beautiful, Anne. _

Gilbert’s words from just that morning flashed through her mind, and she couldn’t help by flush at the memory. Refocusing on her image in the mirror, she tried to imagine what he saw in her. Her eyes and mind worked together against her, as they always had, to draw her attention to the parts of her that she had despised the most over the years. 

_ You are pale and marred by freckles. You are hopelessly homely. And ugh, that red hair. _

Anne shook her head, as if to shake out the thoughts that were plaguing her. 

“Are you alright, Anne?” Marilla asked from the other side of the small room. In her deep state of thought, Anne had forgotten entirely that Marila was already tucked in bed, reading a book. 

“Marilla,” Anne paused, “do you think I am beautiful?” Marilla swung her legs out from under the blanket and hurried over to stand behind Anne’s chair. She reached over to Anne’s dressing table, grabbed her hairbrush, and started running the brush gently through Anne’s hair. 

After a few moments of silence, Marilla answered, “Of course you are beautiful, Anne. If you will take my humble opinion to heart, I speculate that you are becoming more and more beautiful everyday.” Marilla paused as she saw Anne’s face soften and her eyes grow misty. “I’m not just talking about your outward self, Anne. I mean who you are as a person too. Has someone said something to lead you to feel otherwise?” Marilla’s tone changed to one of concern as she contemplated this option. 

“No. No. Quite the opposite actually,” Anne spoke with a tone of hushed, nervous wonder.

“I see” Marilla replied with a slight smirk. Marilla finished running the brush through Anne’s firey hair and set the brush back to rest on the dressing table, before returning to the warmth of the bed.

Anne, still facing the mirror, gave her image one more purposeful glance before focusing on the small, folded square of paper that she had been carrying since that afternoon. She unfolded it once again, just as she had earlier in a small moment of solitude that she had found while warming Delphine’s bottle in the kitchen. 

“Meet me tonight by the fire.” 

Anne thought back to earlier in the day when Gilbert had inconspicuously slid that note across the table to her as they cleaned up their school materials from the table in preparation for dinner. She and Gilbert had spent most of the afternoon hours studying together, Anne helping Gilbert catch up on the lessons he had missed the previous day of school and working ahead on some of their Queen’s exam study material. Anne has spent breakfast that morning, fraught with worry that the events of the late night and early morning would make things awkward between them, especially considering that they were closely surrounded by their families and had little chance to speak of what had transpired. Anne believed it to be a stroke of good fortune that, rather than things being tense, they were actually quite pleasant. 

Whenever Anne found herself in proximity with Gilbert that day, her body filled with the same warmth that flooded her senses, head to toe, as when he had held her in his arms. Whenever they happened to catch each other’s eye, the intensity and knowingness of his gaze filled her soul with butterflies over and over again. Whenever she heard his voice, she couldn’t help but tune in. Thinking of these moments made her smile as she sat there before her mirror. She had felt all of these feelings multiple times over the past year, initially always finding her body’s natural reaction to Gilbert Blythe’s accidental touches, steadfast stares, and warm voice to be quite annoying. It almost startled Anne how little it took to change her attitude towards these feelings to one of enjoyment rather than annoyance.

_ I love Gilbert Blythe. I love Gilbert Blythe. I  _ ** _love_ ** _ Gilbert Blythe. _

Anne’s heart fluttered as the thought passed through her mind again and again. Since finally admitting this pure and marvelous truth to herself less than a day ago, she found herself grateful for this storm that forced her proximity to him as it allowed her to notice and appreciate new little things about him through an entirely new lens. It forced her not to run away this time. 

“Isn’t there somewhere you’re supposed to be?” 

The sudden resonation of Marilla’s voice in Anne’s ears derailed Anne’s train of thought. Anne glanced up into her mirror and saw Marilla’s reflection looking at her beyond her own. Anne’s mouth fell open slightly, unsure of how to answer this sudden question. 

_ How much does Marilla know? _

Before Anne had a chance to come up with a response, Marilla spoke again.

“Go to him, Anne.”

Anne’s mouth stood agape.

“Anne, I’ve known you for years now. I know your strength and your desire to pursue what is right and good, and I have grown to trust you completely with the choices you make.”

Anne turned to face Marilla, eyes brimming with wonderment. With sincerity in her voice, Marilla continued.

“I admire the woman you are becoming, sweet Anne. You are not my little girl anymore, but in my heart you are still, and will always be, my dearest Anne of Green Gables. I’d love to keep you close to me here forever, but Anne, you have oh so much love to give. I see the way you look at him… and him at you. I can’t express how much joy it brings me to see you as happy as you are when you are with him, Anne.”

“Marilla,” Anne breathed. She made her way to the bed and sat next to Marilla. “Your words - they sound like a poem.”

Marilla let out a small chuckle.

“Marilla, I think I love him... no, I know I love him.’ Anne paused. Hearing these words said aloud made them seem so much grander than they did in her head. “It scares me, Marilla. This feeling scares me, but it fills me up with a powerful and true hope at the same time. Feeling this kind of love is nothing like I had imagined it would be.”

Marilla reached over, laid her hand on top of Anne’s and gave it a small squeeze. 

“I love you, Marilla. And thank you for trusting me,” Anne whispered.

At a matching volume, with a twinkle in her eye, Marilla responded, “So why are you still up here?”

“Do you think I should change back into my day dress?”

“I suppose Gilbert has already seen you in this state,” Marilla laughed. “More than once today, I might guess.”

Anne blushed a deep red, and her heart filled with a similar warmth knowing that Marilla trusted her, despite the shared knowledge of this unspoken truth.

“Thank you, Marilla. I will always, always, always love you.” 

With that, and with so much love over pouring from her heart, Anne got up and slipped out the door and into the hall. 


	8. Wanting

Moving from her warm, candlelit gable room into the drastically opposite cold and dark hallway, Anne paused for a moment of solitude. She hardly had a minute alone all day, and barely had time to process all of the recent events that had passed. Finally finding herself totally alone, the nervous energy that simmered deep within her become amplified tenfold.

_ What am I about to walk into? _

Anne had been excited all afternoon and evening at the prospect of meeting Gilbert by the fire again that night. Yet, finally getting a moment alone with her thoughts, she was reminded that there was so much left unsaid between her and Gilbert, thus she was walking into a complete unknown. There was a sense of romance in having such an unknown on one’s life, but realizing she might soon come face to face with this unknown was, in many ways, terrifying to Anne. Anne felt what seemed to be an unseen force pulling her feet towards the stairs while her natural instincts screamed at her to turn and bolt back into her room.

_ What if he doesn’t feel the same way that I do? _

The thought passed through her mind, but only for a moment. She remembered his eyes - the way they seemed to seek the deepest, most secret parts of her soul whenever he looked into hers. She recalled the way he was the one to wrap his arms around her first, the way he grabbed her hand, and the way he had been pursuing her and vying for her attention for years now, although she had been blind to this until recently. And he was the one who asked her to meet tonight. These thoughts propelled her forward. 

When Anne reached the bottom of the stairs and turned towards the living room, she saw that the fire was already burning, yet Gilbert was nowhere to be seen. Anne walked over to the window and looked out into the swirling darkness of the storm. She appreciated how the contrast of the world outside her window to the room in which she stood accentuated the warmth of her current surroundings. Before any thoughts of doubt could overtake her mind regarding Gilbert’s absence from the room, she felt two sturdy arms wrap around her waist from behind.

“Gilbert!” Anne exclaimed as she whipped around, still encircled in his arms. “You could have made your presence known instead of giving me such a fright!” Anne’s eyes looked upwards to meet Gilbert’s, and his soul-searching gaze added to the proximity of their bodies quickened her already fast heartbeat.

“I wasn’t trying to sneak up on you, Anne-girl,” Gilbert said with a laugh. “But I am incredibly glad that you came.”

“I am too,” Anne replied, matching Gilbert’s gaze.

With that small, shared confession, a blanket of silence fell over them. Unsure of exactly what to do with her arms, still hanging awkwardly by her sides within Gilbert’s embrace, she moved them slowly up, one hand loosely holding the back of his neck and the other hand resting on his chest above his heart. His heart beat below her palm with a rapidity that complemented her own quickened heart rate perfectly. Eyes still locked together, Gilbert was the first to break the silence that had fallen. 

“I’m nervous, Anne,” he spoke, almost inaudibly.

“You’re nervous? You have seemed so confident through all of this that  **you** have been making me nervous!” Anne said with an anxious laugh.

A warm smile spread fleetingly across Gilbert’s face before sinking back into a more serious demeanor.

“Anne, there is just so much I want to tell you… and I want to be perfectly honest with you.” Gilbert paused, and Anne felt the intensity of his eyes delve deeper into hers as he continued. “I’m so tired of hiding all of my thoughts and dreams and passions from you. And, Anne, it’s been years… years, Anne, that I have been holding so much within myself that I have wanted to speak to you.” Gilbert swallowed nervously, the muscles in his neck seemingly straining to keep him going. “I’m just afraid that I might speak one word too many and you will run from me. And I’m not certain I’d ever be able to get you back.” 

Anne moved her hand up from Gilbert’s chest so that both arms now wrapped around his neck. The words that came out of Anne’s mouth came with an air of confidence that surprised her considering how weak her legs felt below her.

“Well, you have me here now, don’t you?” Anne said with a smile. “I chose to come down here to meet you tonight, and I imagine I would have enough mind about me to not run out of the house in this powerful storm. I’ve made up my mind to stay right here with you… and I do want to hear everything, Gil.”

A giddy smile broke across Gilbert’s face, and Anne could feel his grasp tighten around her waist. Despite how close they found themselves and the amount of energy in the room, they both shivered at the touch of a cold draft of wind that rushed from the window where they still stood. Gilbert drew back his arms from around Anne’s waist, and she responded, pulling her arms back to her sides. With a glimmer in his eye, he grabbed her hand and led her closer to the warmth of the fire that roared in the fireplace. Standing on the carpet where their families had danced together the night before, Gilbert drew Anne back towards himself, wrapping one arm around her waist and holding the other up in his own. He leaned towards Anne’s ear, whispering, “Dance with me,” before drawing himself back to stare into her eyes.

Anne, enraptured by the way the fire danced in the dark mystery that was Gilbert Blythe’s eyes, could only bring herself to nod as she brought her free arm up to his shoulder. Gilbert began humming a peaceful tune as he lead her in a dance. In the bright light of the fireplace, Anne took a moment to take in the full sight of the man in front of her. He hadn’t yet changed into his night clothes, making Anne feel slightly bare in front of him, yet he had taken off his sweater and button up that he had been wearing earlier in the day and was only dressed in his undershirt, along with his pants and suspenders. Anne couldn’t help but fixate on the way the starch white fabric clung so closely to his skin that she could easily make out every muscle that spanned his arms and chest. Seeing as suspenders were often worn under one’s day shirt, Anne knew she was witnessing a sight that most others haven’t seen. Anne blushed at this thought as her eyes made their way back up to meet Gilbert’s. 

The expression on Gilbert’s face wasn’t one that Anne had seen before. She had seen Gilbert at the extremes of happiness and despair, and many emotions between. She had seen many expressions that she now knew were only reserved for her and realized that this had to be one of them. His eyes held the same intensity that Anne had come to expect this late evening, but his face was something entirely different - a look of wanting. Anne knew in that moment that all she wanted was to kiss Gilbert Blythe, but before she was able to act on that thought, Gilbert let go of her hand and used his arm to draw her body against his. Anne, in turn, wrapped her arm around his back, drawing him even nearer.

The pair had stopped dancing and now stood, wrapped tightly in each other’s arms, neither wanting to let go. Gilbert turned his head slightly, whispering into Anne’s hair. “I love you, beautiful Anne.” 

Anne pulled back enough to see Gilbert’s face, aglow with flickering light as she responded, voice unwavering, “I love you too, Gilbert Blythe.”

Gilbert leaned his forehead down to rest on hers as he walked her slowly, a few steps back, until her back met the wall behind her. Their eyes remained locked for seconds that felt like minutes, before Anne broke the silence.

“Kiss me already, Gil.”

So with most enthralling mix of gentleness and pure passion, he did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You knew that tight shirt and suspenders Gilbert needed to be in here somewhere...


	9. Dreams

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one just didn't want to end... thanks for taking the time to read!

A month had passed since the blizzard hit Avonlea, and the warmth of the afternoon went to work thawing the last of the snow left from the storm. It was the first day that smelled like spring was finally near, and Gilbert deeply breathed the refreshing air, whistling a happy tune to himself, as he made his way up the path to his house. 

Sebastian spotted him approaching from across the field and laughed a hearty laugh. Ever since they had spent time at Green Gables during the storm, Gilbert had seemed to float nearly everywhere he went, a wide, almost comical, grin slapped across his face, and he was often singing or whistling a cheery tune. There was a lightness to Gilbert that Sebastian realized could only be from love. And, knowing Gilbert the way he did, he was certain that it could only be due to love for a certain “Anne with an e”.

Sebastian had yet to talk with Gilbert about whatever may have gone on at Green Gables between the two, partially due to some stern looks from Mary telling him silently to give the poor boy a break and partially due to the fact that Gilbert was finding his spare time a little more occupied than before. Regardless, Sebastian found it quite enjoyable to laugh to himself about the poor, lovesick boy. He knew a time would likely come when Gilbert might ask for some advice, but he knew that it wasn’t worth it to push him before the proper time.

Continuing up the path to the house, Gilbert thought back with fondness on the day. While school had become a generally more solemn and serious place with Queen’s exams quickly approaching, Gilbert found joy in the moments that he and Anne would catch each other’s gazes across the room, sharing a secret between them that few of the others were made privy to. Diana knew, of course, as any bosom friend of Anne’s surely would. Ms. Stacy knew as she had came across them walking to school hand in hand one early morning for an extra study session that was common for her two top pupils. Apart from those two, Gilbert and Anne had decided to keep their relationship to themselves. They were above the Take-Notice board, but their peers were not, and they dreaded what twisted rumors might end up on the board if everyone knew. 

Anne still ate her lunch with the girls and Gilbert with the boys, but they always came up with one reason or another to be the last ones to reenter the school house so that they could walk together, hand in hand, if only for a moment. Three days a week the students working towards entering Queens that fall would stay after for a study session, but Gilbert found himself thankful that this was not one of those days. Gilbert had walked with Anne to school and back from school every day since the storm, but these early dismissals allowed for a little more time for them to linger together in the forest. 

The routine was pleasantly familiar at this point. Diana would walk with Anne and Gilbert to where the path to Diana’s house broke off from the path to Green Gables. Jerry was often there to meet them if he was able to get his work done at the Cuthbert’s farm early enough, and from there, the two pairs would part ways. A mere moment after Gilbert and Anne turned towards Green Gables, he would take her hand, intertwining his fingers with hers. They would spend most of the walk talking about whatever was on their minds that day, each finding comfort in their matched intellect and similarly grand desires for their future careers. 

Today’s walk had started just the same. Reaching the deepest part of the forest mid-walk, equidistant from the fork in the path where they parted from Diana and from the gate to Green Gables, Gilbert slowed to a stop, Anne slowing with him. Gilbert knew, as with every other day over the past month, that this had become his favorite part of the walk. They paused within a circle of large oak trees, Anne’s old favorites that she had once decided must be the oldest and wisest trees in the forest. Besides this being an ideal spot due to the fact that it was the farthest they could get from any potential prying eyes, the way the sun shone through the trees at this time in the afternoon cast an almost mystical light over the forest floor where they stood.

This day in particular, Gilbert found himself shocked into a serene silence as Anne turned to face him. The warm light of the sun accentuated Anne’s freckles that he adored, and made the coloring of her irises glimmer. The light rays made her hair glisten like gold. Gilbert chuckled nervously at the ethereal sight before him.

“So I guess there is gold in Avonlea,” he said, his voice deepening as he let himself sink into the depths of her eyes.

Gilbert was so lost in her gaze, that he let out a small gasp as she closed the space between them, wrapping her lithe arms around the back of his neck and pressing her lips to his. He felt himself melting in her arms, and quickly wrapped his arms around her waist to pull her closer and to steady himself. He returned the kiss gladly, feeling her smiling lips against his.

While they found themselves spending a few minutes like this everyday, each kiss felt as nerve-wracking and spell-binding as the one before. They would always pull away from each other after a minute or two, and rest their foreheads together, simply breathing in the moment together, alone. They seemed to have a mutual, unspoken understanding that, although they would much prefer to stay within the circle of oaks together for hours, they both had responsibilities and people who depend on them. And that is the only way they were ever able to break away.

Hand in hand, they would leave their magical spot in the woods and continue on towards Green Gables. The latter half of their walks were most often spent in silence. Somehow words didn’t feel worthy to enter the space around them. Gilbert didn’t know what Anne thought of during these silent moments, but his mind was always flooded with his hopes and dreams for their future together. He hoped that was what she was thinking of too. 

After a soft kiss before exiting the treeline at Green Gables, they approached the gate. The exit from the forest into the open field before Green Gables always seemed to break the silence between them, and they would often spend another quarter-hour or so chatting at the gate before parting ways to their own homes. Gilbert enjoyed his walk back home, though of course not as much as his time spent with Anne. It did however give him some time to process things before returning to Bash and Mary. 

Gilbert thought back to their first kiss and first confession of the feelings between them during the blizzard a month ago. Though they had shared many kisses and moments together since, the passion and honesty released in their first kiss still held a prime spot in the forefront of his memories. Gilbert could still recall every moment that he had spent with Anne on those late nights at Green Gables like they were only yesterday. 

He found himself amazed that Anne had even agreed to join him that night by the fire. He admired her willingness to let him see her in such a natural state, in her nightgown, long hair cascading down her shoulders. He knew that she trusted him enough to let her barriers down before him and just let him see her without any special adornments. Butterflies again flooded his stomach at the memory of Anne’s boldness towards him that late night.  _ “Kiss me already, Gil.”  _ He shivered at the memory. Their first kiss didn’t last long, but it was long enough to bring so much to light that they had been hiding from each other. They had both spoken the words “I love you” and meant it fully.

Apart from the joy of their first kiss, some of Gilbert’s fondest memories of being stormed in at Green Gables came in the following hours that he and Anne spent talking, cuddling, and stealing kisses on the couch in front of the fire late into the night. It was as if a dam had broken with their mutual confessions of love, allowing freedom in the conversations that flowed between them. 

“Gil, when did you first know you loved me?” Anne asked in the wee hours of the morning, her back leaning against his chest with her head resting on his shoulder in the same place they had fallen asleep together the night before.

Running his fingers through her hair, Gilbert answered cheekily, “That’s a more complicated question than you might think, Anne-girl.” He laughed as she strained her neck awkwardly to throw him the grumpiest face she could muster in her state of tired, adoration before falling into laughter herself. She let her head return to rest on his shoulder, gazing at the fire that was dying in the fireplace. Gilbert grabbed the hand nearest his free one, and intertwined his fingers with hers before continuing. 

“See, I knew I admired you on our first day of class together.”

Anne squeezed his hand tighter but remained silent, so he went on.

“But love...love is a tricky thing. I suppose I first recognized my feelings of love for you was when I was gone for all those months on the ship. Your letters meant the world to me, and I wanted so much to tell you everything I was experiencing. But that was probably more of a love that friends have for each other. From there it grew and changed into something much more.” Gilbert paused, collecting his thoughts and saying a quick prayer for courage. 

“I suppose a better question to ask,” Gilbert gulped, “would be - when did I realize that you are it for me, Anne? Or when did I realize that I want you to be a big part of my future?” Gilbert paused, a sigh escaping him as he let the next words roll out of his mouth. “And my answer would be ‘I don’t know,’ but, Anne, I am certain of the fact that at some point over these past few years, it did happen.”

Anne shifted from where she was sitting, leaving Gilbert to fear he might have said too much - been too honest. As she moved away, the chill of the room, no longer warmed by the dying fire, seeped into the space she left. To Gilbert’s surprise, Anne didn’t go far. She situated herself with her legs folder beneath her, facing him, her knees firmly touching his leg. Clasping both of Gilbert’s hands in her, Anne lifted her eyes to meet his. Gilbert hadn’t noticed until now, but she had tears streaming gently down her cheeks. He quickly began forming an apology in his head, but was abruptly stopped in his thoughts as she spoke first.

“Do you really mean those things, Gil?”

“Undoubtedly, my love.” 

A smile spread across Anne’s face, and, with a great sense of relief, Gilbert mirrored it with his own.

“Anne, when did you know you loved me?”

Throwing herself into his arms with a melodious laugh, Anne replied, “Yesterday, silly. But I suppose if I allowed myself to entertain the thought long enough, a part of me has known it all along.”

Gilbert held her in his arms, their hearts pounding against each other’s. The beating in their chests slowly fading back to their usual patterns as they once again fell asleep on the couch before the glowing embers.

A chill ran down Gilbert’s spine at the recollection of this memory, and it shook him to find himself at the gate to his property instead of back on that couch with Anne in his arms. Back in his current reality, Gilbert found himself with quite a lot to think about. The past month spend with Anne only made his desires and dreams for a life together with her stronger. He would marry her as soon as his legs could run back to Green Gables if he could, but they were young and still had personal dreams ahead of them to accomplish. Gilbert laughed at the realization that they hadn’t even started to formally court.

_ There is a time for everything. _

Gilbert gained a small sense of peace at this truth. As he walked out to meet Bash in the field, he was glad that there was work to be done. Maybe, just maybe, it could distract him momentarily from the passion burning deep within his soul for the girl with the red hair that shimmered like gold.


	10. Courting

“You kissed him? I can’t believe you  _ actually _ kissed Gilbert Blythe!” Cole’s joy-filled words and laughter rang through Ms. Josephine Barry’s garden one sunny Saturday afternoon as he Anne and Diana sat amongst the newly blossomed spring flowers. While she might have once blushed and sat tight-lipped in embarrassed denial, Anne just sat there grinning giddily at her dear friend’s excitement over her news.

“She did more than just kiss him,” Diana added with a smirk. Cole’s jaw dropped as unspoken possibilities flooded his mind.

“Diana!” Anne shrieked, turning a deep crimson red. “You make me sound so scandalous! Cole, I can assure you, it’s likely not as bad as you must be thinking. We just confessed our love for each other.” Anne spoke the words as if she had told him something so mundane as the grass being green.

“You what?” exclaimed Cole laughing heartily.

“Anne, you seem to have failed to mention that you fell asleep in his arms”, Diana added with a sly glance at her dear friend. “Twice.” 

Cole couldn’t take anymore. With as much drama as he could muster, he feigned passing out in the grass behind him. Giggling, the girls fell back too, looking up to the vivid blue that painted the sky. Anne loved her friends dearly and was wholly pleased at Cole’s reaction. His outward expression of joy at her news matched the joy she was feeling inside.

As their laughter died down, Cole, in a more serious tone asked, “So are you formally courting at this point?”

Anne felt a twinge of nervousness hit her stomach at his question. “We’ve confessed to each other that we want a future together,” Anne paused, a quiver entering her voice, “but no, we aren’t formally courting.”

Sensing the change in Anne’s voice, Diana grabbed her hand and said, “Oh, Anne, I’m sure he will ask Matthew and Marilla soon for their blessing over a courtship. I see the way he looks at you and hear how he speaks with you, Anne.”

“I almost wish that courting wasn’t a thing,” scoffed Anne with disgust.

“What’s wrong with courting?” asked Cole, quite concerned. 

“It just feels like it takes the romance out of things. It’s like slicing open a sacred relationship between two people and laying it in the open for the whole world to see… and to comment on,” Anne groaned. “And then everyone starts to watch you as if you were under a magnifying glass, judging you on whether you are being proper or not in all of your interactions. And, for whatever reason, everyone seems to feel it is okay to openly judge a courting couple and comment on whether or not they feel it’s a good match.” Anne paused to catch her breath. “And a part of me is scared that people will judge me just like when I first came to Avonlea, and thereby judge Gilbert too. And maybe...maybe it would make him realize what he was getting into and change his mind.” Anne burst into tears at the thought. “I know he truly means it when he says he loves me, but part of me is still the little orphan who can’t believe that I deserve love.”

Leaning up on his elbow, looking down lovingly at the beautiful mess that was his dearest friend Anne, Cole asked, “Anne, have you told him all of this?” Anne’s silence answered the question for him. “Diana and I could speak against your fears as long as you need us to, but I don’t think it would be the same as if it came from Gilbert himself.”

\---

Later that evening, Anne reminisced on her afternoon at Ms. Barry’s, telling Gilbert of her time spent catching up with her dear friends. He in turn shared stories of his experiences at his apprenticeship with Dr. Ward. They were taking the long way back to Green Gables from the train station, thoroughly enjoying each other’s company under the light of the moon and the majesty of the star-filled expanse above them. When all of the day’s events had been relayed, they fell to walking in silence.

“Anne, is something bothering you?” Gilbert asked, slowing his pace and wrapping his arm around her back. He had developed quite a knack for knowing if something was even slightly off with Anne.

“Yes and no. It’s silly really the more I think about it. Especially since you haven’t even asked me yet,” Anne rambled aimlessly. Gilbert paused in the path and drew Anne to him in a tight embrace. 

“Asked you what, Anne-girl?” 

Looking at Gilbert’s chest in a valiant attempt to avoid his eyes, Anne replied, “The topic of courtship came up today in conversation with Diana and Cole.” 

“Ahh, I see.”

In her nervousness over the topic, the words began pouring out of Anne’s mouth before she had a chance to really consider them. “It’s silly since I don’t even know if you would ever want to ask me to court you... I mean... I assumed you might eventually based off of everything that has happened between us. But the idea of putting ourselves out there… our intentions… for everyone. And I fear what people might say…” Anne’s words faded to silence and her next words came out in a near whisper. “And I’m afraid you might change your mind.” 

In the silence that stood between them in the moments following Anne’s monologue, she couldn’t help but feel that her fears were confirmed in Gilbert’s lack of response. In the seconds before Anne tore herself from his embrace to run away, he lifted one hand gently to her chin, pulling her face upwards so she had no choice but to look into his eyes. The look in them, the one only reserved for her, hadn’t changed one bit. 

“Anne, there is nothing I want more in this world than to be with you,” he paused, moving his fingers to tuck a stray strand of her hair behind her ear. “There is absolutely nothing that could ever change my mind about that. In fact, I would go find a minister and marry you right now in the middle of the night if that is what it would take to prove it to you. But, Anne-gil, can you trust me enough to allow me the time to do this right?” 

The emotions rushing through Anne at Gilbert’s words and how they could so easily obliterate the lies she believed were almost too much for her to handle. She wondered how this man, once a boy who pulled her hair and called her “Carrots”, could make her feel so completely over the edge, lost in love. She hardly noticed the quiet tears running down her cheeks until Gilbert had leaned down, intent on kissing each one away. Unable to wait a moment more, she grabbed his face firmly in her palms and met his lips with hers. 

“Of course I trust you, Gil.” 

“And I’ll always be here if you need a reminder,” Gilbert replied cheekily, lifting Anne effortlessly off her feet and spinning her in a circle. Setting her back down gently, Gilbert whispered in her ear, “I cannot wait to discover our future together, Anne.” After kissing her once more, the two continued on the moonlit path towards Green Gables. 

\---

Gilbert returned to his home that night, finding Sebastian still awake in the living room. 

“You have a good day?” Sebastian asked with a laugh. “I’d reckon you could see that smile on your face from a mile away.”

“Bash, I have a question, if you swear not to laugh at me.”

“I would never swear to that,” Bash chuckled, “but I’ll do my best to resist.”

Gilbert paused, contemplating his question. Sebastian was the closest family he had, and he loved him like a brother. He happened to also be the person closest to Gilbert who had the experience Gilbert was looking for. Swallowing hard, he asked, “How did you decide the right time to ask Mary to become your wife?”

Sebastian’s smile remained but his demeanor became more serious at the nature of his friend’s question. “Well, if you remember, I asked her to marry me when I was entirely drunk and out of my mind... You sure you are wanting to be asking me this question?” At Gilbert’s nod, Sebastian continued, “There was a point when I realized that whatever my future held, I wanted… no, I needed her by my side. I wanted the best for her and knew I was prepared to do whatever it took to offer her that much and more.” Sebastian paused, considering his friend who seemed lost deep in his thoughts. “You finally going to ask Anne to court you, Blythe? It’s been long enough.”

The two men sat in silence for a minute. Sebastian knew Gilbert would speak when he was ready. He already knew in his heart what Gilbert was thinking anyways. When Gilbert finally spoke, his answer did not surprise Bash in the least.

“No… I’m going to ask her to marry me.”


End file.
